FilmSnobReviews

Title: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Zac Snyder
Starring: Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Amy Adams
Runtime: 2 hr 31 mins

What It Is: Following the events of Man of Steel Bruce Wayne is more than a little pissed at Superman. He destroyed the Wayne Financial building in his battle with Zod. This killed 1,000s of people in Metropolis. This angers Wayne and his alter ego Batman. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) is plotting something wicked for the blue boy scout. Lois Lane (Adams) is also trying to explain that the future of the word (which may very well rest in Superman’s hands) is far more important than trying to constantly save her life. As a wise man once said “the biggest gladiator battle in the history of the universe” is about to go down.

What We Think: Look, there’s a lot in this film that, cinematically speaking is quite atrocious. From a storytelling perspective, this is where the films deficiencies become quite apparent. Some of the stories are never given proper time to coalesce. One instance, in particular, is the “love” angle between Lois and Clark. I really like Affleck’s turn as Batman. He brings a certain gravitas not seen in the character. A salt and pepper badass with a tinge of disdain for the Metropolitan diety. Henry Cavill remains a good Superman and from an acting standpoint, there are some strong performances here. Again the direction and most of all the script are what seem to fail. Is this the film everyone wants it to be? Perhaps not, but is it a good film? Eh, not so much? It is, however, good enough. Snyder isn’t a great director but his visual style gives this movie a really wonderful look.

Our Grade: C+, Wonder Woman is coming up as is Suicide Squad this August. This is certainly not the start DC wanted to its cinematic universe. Hopefully, Suicide Squad can be the adrenaline shot to the heart that this universe needs. There’re talks of reshoots in order to add some more levity. If this is true perhaps that can help lift DC to it’s first really, really good flick in this franchise.